How to Use Pictory AI Like a Pro Editor in 2026

Do you want to make great videos but feel stuck because editing is too hard?

Traditional software is often slow and confusing.

It can take hours just to finish one short clip.

This waste of time keeps you from growing your brand and reaching new people.

Thankfully, you do not have to be a tech expert anymore.

You can use Pictory AI to handle the hard work for you.

This guide will show you how to use Pictory AI and master the tool quickly.

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Want to boost your video marketing? Short-form videos get 80% higher engagement rates. Let’s explore how Pictory AI can help you capitalize on this trend.

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Pictory AI Tutorial

Learning how to use Pictory AI is both simple and fun.

You do not need fancy technical skills to get started today. This tutorial shows you how to turn ideas into great videos.

Just follow our easy steps to make professional content very fast.

You can make amazing videos even if you are a beginner.

How to Use the AI Video Editor

The AI Video Editor is the heart of the tool.

It helps you edit videos by using text instead of a complex timeline.

This makes the video creation process very easy for anyone.

You can make engaging videos for your YouTube video channel or other platforms in just a few minutes.

Here is how you can use this AI video tool like a pro.

Step 1: Upload Your Content

• Go to the Pictory home page and select the Edit Video Using Text tool.
• You can upload your own video content or paste a link from a YouTube video.
• The AI will then start to transcribe your video into text so you can see every word.

Step 2: Edit Your Video with Text

• Look at the transcript on the left side of the screen.
• Simply highlight and delete any text you do not want in your video.
• The tool will automatically cut those video clips out for you without any messy manual cutting.
• You can also use the Remove Filler Words button to delete ums and “ahs” instantly.

Step 3: Add Visuals and Branding

• Use the visuals tab to pick from millions of royalty-free video clips.
• You can count on your own logo and brand colors to make your social media videos look professional.
• Once you are happy, click generate to finish your video creation process.

How to Use the Video Clip Generator

The Video Clip Generator is a powerful tool on the AI video creation platform.

It helps you turn one long video into many short video highlights. You do not need any past video editing experience to make this work.

This ai powered video creation tool finds the best parts of your video for you.

It is the best way to create videos for social media very quickly.

Step 1: Identify Video Highlights

• Upload your long YouTube videos or webinars into the Summarize Video tool.
• The AI video generator will scan your file and create a text video script.
• Click the Auto Highlight button to let the AI find the most exciting moments.
• You can also manually pick sentences from the text to make your own clips.

Step 2: Customize Your Clips

• Choose your video’s aspect ratio to fit where you want to post.
• Use 9:16 for vertical phone videos and 16:9 for wide computer screens.
• Pick a nice background music track from the huge library to set the mood.
• These video editing features help make your clips much more fun to watch.

Step 3: Export and Share

• Review each of the short clips the AI video creation tool has made.
• You can change the visuals or add text to any scene if you want.
• Use the video editing software tools to trim the start or end of a clip.
• When you are ready, hit generate to save your new video highlights.

How to Use AI Subtitles and Captions

Adding text to your videos helps more people enjoy them on the go.

Most people watch social media videos without any sound turned on. You can use Pictory to create high-quality videos that everyone can understand.

This tool makes video editing for captions very fast and simple.

Follow these steps to make your professional videos stand out today.

Step: 1 Generate Auto-Captions

• You can start by using a YouTube link or an existing video file.
• Use the script to video tool if you have a written blog post.
• The video creator will listen to your audio and write out the words.
• It works quickly to extract key messages and sync them to the screen.

Step 2: Customize Your Text Styles

• Open the scene settings to change how your subtitles look and feel.
• Pick a font that helps you create professional-looking videos for your brand.
• You can add background music that fits well with your text timing.
• This is one of the best video creation methods to keep viewers watching.

Step 3: Final Review and Export

• Watch your work to make sure the words match the voice exactly.
• Use the editor to make compelling videos by fixing any small spelling errors.
• You will soon have high-quality videos ready to share with the world.
• Click the download button to finish your project and save your file.

Pictory Alternatives

Here are some Pictory Alternatives to try in 2026:

• CapCut: A user-friendly video editing app with robust features for beginners and social media creators.
• Descript: A video and audio editing tool that uses a unique text-based approach.
• Filmora: A desktop video editor known for its intuitive interface & a vast range of creative tools, effects, and transitions.
• VEED: A browser-based video editing platform that excels at online collaboration and quick, simple edits.
• Animoto: Perfect for beginners and businesses that need to create professional-looking videos from photos and clips quickly.
• InVideo: It’s especially useful for marketers & content creators who need to generate a high volume of videos with minimal effort.
• Gling AI: It’s designed to streamline the workflow for creators who record long-form content.

Pictory AI Compared

• Pictory vs CapCut: It is a mobile and desktop editor optimized for viral social media content, offering a massive library of trending effects and music. Unlike Pictory’s automation-heavy approach, CapCut requires more manual editing but provides superior creative filters and transition tools.
• Pictory vs Descript: It is a powerful text-based editor that treats video editing like a Word document, specializing in podcasts and talking-head videos. While Pictory focuses on “faceless” content using stock footage, Descript offers advanced “Overdub” voice cloning and studio-quality audio cleaning.
• Pictory vs Filmora: It is a traditional non-linear video editor that provides much more granular control over timelines, layering, and color grading. While Pictory is better for rapid AI-driven summarization, Filmora is the superior choice for creators who want professional-grade manual editing features.
• Pictory vs VEED: It is a versatile online editor that balances AI automation with manual timeline control, making it ideal for adding subtitles and brand elements to existing footage. It offers more flexible design customization than Pictory, though it lacks the same level of deep blog-to-video automation.
• Pictory vs Animoto: It uses a drag-and-drop, template-based approach designed for quick business slideshows and marketing promos. It is more focused on branded visual templates and photos rather than Pictory’s specific AI strength in transcribing and summarizing long-form spoken video content.
• Pictory vs InVideo: It offers a vast library of over 5,000 templates and a highly flexible editor that allows for more artistic control than Pictory. While both use AI for text-to-video, InVideo is often preferred for high-resolution 4K output and detailed branding for marketing agencies.
• Pictory vs Gling AI: It is a specialized tool built specifically for YouTubers to automatically remove silences, filler words, and “bad takes” from raw footage. Unlike Pictory, which builds new videos from text, Gling focuses on cleaning up your existing raw recordings to save hours in the initial cutting phase.

Conclusion

Using Pictory AI is a great way to start creating videos right now. You can convert blog posts into short films with just a few clicks.

This tool makes it easy to turn published blog posts into captivating videos.

You can use AI voiceovers, so you do not have to record yourself.

The video transcription tool is very accurate and saves you a lot of time.

You can pick a template and aspect ratio to fit different social media platforms.

It is simple to resize videos using the screen settings for any phone or computer.

You can also add your own background pictures and other video assets.

Feel free to make your own templates to keep your brand looking the same.

These AI video editing features help you generate videos like a pro.

Frequently Asked Questions

More facts about Pictory AI

• Easy Entry: Sign up without a credit card and explore the platform via a 14-day free trial or a limited free plan.
• Four Creation Methods: Create videos using Script to Video, Article to Video, Visuals to Video, or by editing existing videos via text.
• AI Storyboarding: The AI automatically segments text into scenes and pairs them with relevant stock footage.
• Massive Media Library: Access over 3 million stock clips and images, alongside 15,000 music tracks.
• Automated Editing: Features include automatic captioning, voiceover generation, and the ability to summarize long videos into short social media clips.
• Content Optimization: Adjust aspect ratios for different platforms, making it ideal for YouTube Shorts (under 60 seconds) and faceless channels.
• Professional Branding: Use “Brand Kits” to maintain consistent logos, colors, and fonts across all projects.
• Versatile Use Cases: Efficiently produce promotional content, training videos, and social media posts with no advanced editing skills required.
• Tiered Pricing: Plans start at $19/month (Standard), $39/month (Premium), and $99/month (Teams), with a 15% discount for annual subscriptions.
• User-Centric Design: Optimized for both beginners and professionals to streamline the video production workflow.